


Even The Stars Ship It

by pinky_toe



Category: South Park
Genre: Fantasy AU, M/M, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-08
Updated: 2019-12-08
Packaged: 2021-02-26 00:28:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,402
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21724528
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pinky_toe/pseuds/pinky_toe
Summary: An AU I wrote, similar to SOT but not exactly. FYI, ‘Spirit Companion’s’ are basically just living patronuses.
Relationships: Kyle Broflovski/Stan Marsh
Comments: 1
Kudos: 48





	Even The Stars Ship It

As Kyle was finally excused from his cottage, he took a deep breath and adjusted his satchel, taking out his list of items he needed for his next potion. His spirit companion, a red fox named Kirion, pawed at his leg, and Kyle showed him the list, letting him smell it and look at the pictures of the items they needed to find.

After Kirion finished sniffing, he began to walk into the Enchanted Forest, Kyle rushing to catch up. The Enchanted Forest was wide, with many magical flora and fauna inside. It was very intimidating at first, but after living nearby and adventuring in it nearly every day, the forest became something of a second home for Kyle, a refuge where he could get away from his mother and the prying eyes of his mother’s spirit companion, a fat eagle that did nothing but squawk at anyone who came near her.

Kyle couldn’t wait until he turned 18, finishing his apprenticeship and becoming a fully realised Apothecary, finally leaving his family home and getting his own cottage, with a small store he could call his own. Kirion could sleep in a little bed in the corner, keeping him company as he waited for new customers to arrive for potions or medicine. Unfortunately, this dream wouldn’t come to reality until Kyle aged two more years, and for now, he would just have to make do with being an apprentice, collecting ingredients from the forest and brewing potions with the resident Apothecary, Wendy.

Whilst Kyle was keening for his future freedom, Kirion suddenly perked up, smelling a scent that was unfamiliar. He tensed up, and started to run into the forest. 

“Kirion!”, yelled Kyle, as he chased after him, “Where are you going? Come back!”

Kirion seemed to ignore Kyle, running faster and directly towards the Dark Wood, an area of the forest that no one was safe to enter, no matter how powerful they were. 

Kyle paled, his mother had always warned him to never enter the Dark Wood. And here he was, about to chase his spirit companion into basically certain death. 

As Kyle prepared to enter the Dark Wood, Kirion suddenly stopped directly in front of the entrance, sending Kyle stumbling to stop with him. Kyle fell over, and as he landed, he fell halfway into the Dark Wood, his legs in the Enchanted Forest and his torso up was in the Dark Wood. 

Scrambling to stand, Kyle heard a rustling inside a nearby bush. He turned his head, reaching inside his satchel for a small knife that he used for cutting reeds in the forest. He drew it out, just as he saw eyes appear inside the bush. 

Kyle stayed perfectly still, not even daring to blink as the eyes stared back at him. 

Unexpectedly, the creature jumped out at Kyle, Kyle was too shocked to fight back, and the creature tackled Kyle to the ground.

Kyle clenched his eyes shut, expecting to be mauled to death, but all he got was a slobbery tongue. 

“Sparky! Sparky, no!” yelled a voice that Kyle had never heard before. Kyle heard the sound of someone climbing down a tree and eventually ‘Sparky’ was dragged off of Kyle. 

“Oh my stars! I’m so sorry!” said the voice, and as Kyle’s eyes adjusted, he noticed that a hand was outstretched towards him, and connected to that hand was a very apologetic back haired knight, about the same age as him, holding back his hound spirit companion. 

Kyle hesitated, not knowing if he should accept the help from this handsome stranger, whose dog had tackled him to the ground. Besides, what was this knight doing in the Dark Wood? Knights normally lived in the villages nearby the castle, not near the Enchanted Forest. 

With a suspicious glare on his face, Kyle reluctantly took the knights hand, and was pleasantly surprised by how calloused his hand was, no doubt scarred by many years of sword fighting. The knight pulled Kyle up, and steadied him when he swayed. 

“I’m Stan, and I’m really sorry that Sparky tackled you like that, he doesn’t normally, well, do that. Are you hurt?” asked Stan, still holding back Sparky, who seemingly wanted to tackle Kyle again.

“I’m fine, just a bit spooked I think,” said Kyle, eyeing Sparky warily. “My name’s Kyle, and forgive me if I’m rude, but I’d rather continue this conversation not in the part of the forest where we can die any moment.”

“Oh. Oh! Of course, yeah, that makes sense.” 

Stan began to carefully drag Sparky out of the Wood, and Kyle made sure to pick up his knife that had fallen to the ground, before following them, Kirion in tow. 

After walking to a safe area of the Enchanted Forest, Stan sat down in a grassy patch, leaning against a large tree, and looked at Kyle expectantly. Seeing Sparky sitting obediently next to Stan, and not poised to attack at any moment, Kyle let himself relax, and sat cross legged opposite Stan.

Stan smiled at Kyle, and Kirion unexpectedly crawled into Stan’s lap, looking content. 

Stan looked at Kirion like he’d grown another head, and Kyle awkwardly laughed, scratching the back of his head and looking away. 

“Heh, yeah, he does that to people he likes. So, I guess he likes you?”

“Oh. Well isn’t that sweet,” said Stan, as he began to pet Kirion, and the fox began to purr quietly. “He’s very cute, what’s his name?”

“Kirion, I was a very creative kid.” said Kyle, grinning.

“I wasn’t, as you can tell, with my boy Sparky here.” said Stan, as he ruffled Sparky’s fur. Sparky replied by licking Stan’s hand, and Kyle secretly found it adorable. 

“Well I think it’s a very fitting name, y’know, with his sparks of energy?”

“Heh, never thought of it like that before, I guess you're right.” said Stan, grinning back at Kyle.

After a little bit of conversation, Kyle found out that Stan was the nephew of the Head Knight of the McCormick Kingdom, and he lived just outside of the Enchanted Forest, on the opposite side from Kyle, at his Uncle's large estate. He was currently apprenticing for his uncle, training to be a knight to keep up the legacy.

“It’s so pretentious, ‘Stan! You have to keep up the Marsh name! You have to be a knight!’ I don’t even have a choice! When you’re a male Marsh, you’re a knight, no questions asked. It’s all total rubbish!” exclaimed Stan, fuming.

“I totally understand where you're coming from. In my family I had only two jobs my parents actually approved of. Luckily, I actually like potion brewing, or I’d probably be forced to be a lawyer like my father.” Kyle scrunched up his nose in disgust even at the thought of having to work with his father.

Stan laughed at Kyles disgusted face, and Kyle thought it was the best sound he’d ever heard.

Unfortunately, they had to part ways when nightfall began to hit, but before they did, they promised to meet again in the same spot the next day. 

As Kyle walked towards his family cottage, he couldn’t wipe the giddy grin off of his face, or get rid of the bounce in his step. 

~~~

At first light, Kyle jumped out of his bed, determined to finish his ingredient collection before meeting Stan again, not wanting to lose his apprenticeship. After waking up the village Apothecary, and apologising profusely about missing yesterday’s lesson, Kyle was given another ingredient list and was quickly sent out into the Forest again, letting poor Wendy sleep. 

Kyle and Kirion finished the list so quickly that when they returned to the Apothecary’s cottage, she was still asleep and incredibly grumpy to have been woken up twice by Kyle. After a short argument about what acceptable waking times were, Wendy realised that no one could win an argument against Kyle, and just sent him away, telling him that she canceled class for today, and no, she wasn’t terminating Kyles apprenticeship, so stop looking at her like that. 

After successfully stopping classes for that day, Kyle and Kirion began their journey to the large tree that they hung out with Stan and Sparky the day before. 

Kyle had to physically stop himself from running to the tree, as he was so excited at the prospect of Stan being there again. He then felt insane, since when did he get this excited to see someone that he barely knew? He was justified, he reasoned with himself, Stan was different, Kyle felt finally at home with Stan, like he was the missing piece that he always thought he missed. 

Kyle then felt even more insane, realising how much of a weirdo he just sounded like. 

Shaking the thoughts away, Kyle made it to the tree, where he saw Sparky and Stan already there, Stan playing a wooden guitar. Sparky seemed to perk up at Kyle’s very presence, and ran up to him, jumping up and licking him anywhere he could reach. Kyle laughed, and ruffled his fur. 

“Down boy, I’m not going anywhere.” 

Stan looked up at the commotion, and grinned at Kyle.

“Hey dude! You made it!”

“Heh, of course I did. I wouldn’t miss it for the world.” said Kyle, instantly regretting it.

Instead of looking weirded out by Kyle’s admission, Stan just patted the grass beside him and Kyle took the hint to sit down. 

“This is my guitar, my parents never bought one for me, telling me ‘Marsh’s don’t play guitar!’, so I had to make it myself. Pretty cool, huh?”

“You made this yourself? It sounds just like a real guitar!”

“Let’s just say, I’m good with my hands.” said Stan.

Kyle burst into laughter at Stan’s wording, and soon Stan joined in, blurting out how that’s not what he meant, and for Kyle to stop laughing at him. 

“Oh, I see, you’re ‘good with your hands’.” said Kyle, wiggling his eyebrows. 

Stan’s face became red from embarrassment, playfully nudging Kyle in the gut. 

“Oh, stop. You’re just immature.” said Stan.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, my humour is very mature. Besides, you said it.” said Kyle, nudging Stan back.

As the day passed, Stan showed off on his guitar, and Kyle was incredibly impressed, the craftsmanship of the guitar was one of a woodcarver, and his playing was one of a minstrel. 

Stan even wrote his own songs, and Kirion seemed really enjoy the music, purring quietly. Kyle promised to show off tomorrow, eager to one-up Stan.

~~~

The next day, Kyle brought his traveling cauldron, and managed to brew up an telekinesis potion, ready to wow Stan when he made it to the tree. A telekinesis potion was an intermediate level potion, and was pretty hard for an apprentice Apothecary to brew. Kyle hoped this was enough to beat Stan in their little competition. 

When Stan and Sparky finally made it to the tree, the potion was already rationed and put into a vial, ready for drinking. 

“Woah, is that your cauldron?” asked Stan, as he sat down next to Kyle.

“Yeah, and I brewed a telekinesis potion for you to try. It’s only a weak batch, meaning that it will last for 10 minutes, then it will wear off. Do you want to try it?” 

“Telekinesis? That sounds really cool, sure, I’ll try it.” 

“Great!”, said Kyle, uncorking the vial. “All you do is drink this, you have to drink all of it, or it won’t work.”

“Ok....” said Stan, taking the vial and drinking it all. 

Stan’s ocean blue eyes slowly turned navy, signifying that the potion worked.

‘Can you hear me?’, Kyle thought, and when Stan’s eyes widened, Kyle grinned.

“Oh my stars! I can hear you!” exclaimed Stan.

‘Yeah, dumbass, that’s the point.’ Kyle thought, a coy smile on his lips. 

“Hey! This is a new experience for me!” said Stan.

After messing around with the potion for a little while longer, it eventually ran out, and Stan’s eyes faded back into his regular ocean blue colour. Kyle considered never giving him another potion, not wanting Stan’s eyes to be covered by another colour again. 

Kyle and Stan continued to meet up, and soon they considered each other best friends, confiding in each other and hanging out together daily.

~~~

On Kyle’s 17th birthday, after Stan gave him a brand new set of brewing utensils and sang him a song he wrote for him, Kyle unfortunately needed to go, and they begrudgingly parted. 

Kyle walked out of the Enchanted Forest, upset that he had to leave Stan. Kirion looked bored, he was used to playing with Sparky, and when Sparky wasn’t there, he just sat there, looking forlorn.

When Kyle walked to the Apothecary, she hugged him, telling him happy birthday and that today they could make whatever he wanted. 

He decided to make a telekinesis potion, as it was the potion that reminded him of Stan. Using the new tools Stan gave him caused Kyle to smile, and when Wendy asked where he got such nice tools, Kyle’s smile turned into a grin.

“My best friend Stan gave them to me, he hand-carved them and everything!”

“He did? Well isn’t he nice! Do you see him often?”

“Yeah, nearly every day. We meet up at this huge tree in the Enchanted Forest and hang out. It’s so good, even Kirion has fun! He hangs out with Stan’s spirit companion, a hound named Sparky, and-.”

“Wait, didn’t you just say that he was a hound?” asked Wendy, shocked.

“Well yeah, Sparky is a hound. Is something wrong with that?”

“No, no. Not at all, in fact, if I’m correct, quite good!” said Wendy, turning to her large bookcase and going to the ‘L’ section. 

She looked at her collection of books for a moment, before finding the right one and taking it out. 

It was a large leather bound book, that seemed to be incredibly old. After lugging it to her table, she dusted it off and opened to the index. 

Kyle watched as her finger trailed down the page until it reached the word; ‘Soulmates’. 

Quickly flipping to the page, Wendy began to read out loud; “Soulmates are two people who are destined by the Stars to be together. Once the relationship is forged, it will never break, and the two people will be happily together for the rest of time, even after death.

“Not everyone has a Soulmate, and Soulmates are incredibly rare. Soulmates can be people of the same or different genders, and it has been documented of three people being each other’s Soulmates. 

“Symptoms of finding your Soulmate include; feeling overjoyed when you see or think about them, wanting to be with them all the time, and feeling like the missing piece that you’ve always been looking for has been found.

“You can tell if people are Soulmates by their spirit companion. If they are two of the same animal/ breed, eg: a Stag and a Doe, or two Golden Retrievers, they are Soulmates. Another way to tell is that if the two animals coexist as a pair, eg: Sharks and Remora Fish, or a Fox and a Hound.” 

Wendy stopped talking, and turned to Kyle, grinning. “I was correct! You and your friend Stan are Soulmates!”

“I. I, er, um. What.” stammered Kyle, shocked by how much this made sense. 

“I’ve never met anyone with a Soulmate before! Sit down, I need you to tell me everything!” said Wendy, pushing Kyle into a chair and grabbing her quill and notebook, sitting down opposite him.

“I don’t understand what I’m supposed to say-“

“Everything! Not many cases of Soulmates exist! I need to write down your case for history!”

“Oh. Well, it’s really hard to describe. Ever since I met Stan, I’ve felt, complete? I always want to be with him, having fun and showing off. Whenever I think of Stan, I feel all warm and happy inside, and this is really awkward and embarrassing, but I’ve certainly thought of dating him many times. I- I think I’m in love with him.” said Kyle, his face ablaze.

“Amazing! Can you tel-.”, Wendy was cut off by her crow spirit companion, who started to caw quite loudly, informing them that the lesson time was up. “Now Kyle,” said Wendy, putting her hand over Kyle’s supportively. “I need you to promise me that you will tell Stan that you two are Soulmates, don’t keep this to yourself, Stan is your Soulmate, he’s in this for the long run.”

“But what if he isn’t? What if this is all a coincidence, or some sick prank?”, said Kyle, starting to freak out. “What if I’m in love with him, but he isn’t in love with me? And I am left forever alone, pining after someone who will never love me back?! I can’t handle that!”

“Kyle. You literally have every single symptom of having a Soulmate. How could Stan not be your Soulmate? You’re a very smart kid, just admit that the Stars seem to be very kind to you and Stan, giving you a perfect relationship. Many people would kill for that, embrace it!”

Kyle took a moment to really think. Sure, all the evidence points to one direction, but Kyle couldn’t dare let his hopes up, only to see them get dashed. It’s happened before in his childhood, and Kyle still winces when he thinks of Rebecca, and how his attempt at romancing her failed. 

However, if Stan really was his Soulmate, then his past romances failing makes sense. Of course he wouldn’t be able to date anyone else, he already had the perfect person, he just had to wait to meet him.

Thinking of Stan, Kyle smiled warmly. Stan was his best friend, his paradise. They both had very strict parents, and being able to get away from that, with someone who understood the problems, was wonderful to Kyle. 

He could vividly imagine him and Stan living together, he would run his shop, and Stan would hang out with him, keeping him company as he waited for customers to arrive. Stan could be a bodyguard or a bounty hunter, and his job would bring home lots of money, letting them live in a richer village. Kyle wouldn’t even have to worry about Stan getting hurt, as his physical ability was unmatched by even some of the Royal family’s top knights. It sounded perfect. 

Breathing in a deep breath, Kyle decided that he would take the plunge, and tell Stan what he found out. 

“Fine, I’ll tell him.” 

Wendy smiled brightly, “That’s wonderful news! I best let you go, but remember that you have to tell him!” 

Kyle nodded his head, and him and Kirion left Wendy’s cottage, Kyle determined that he would tell Stan, no matter what. 

~~~

Kyle couldn’t tell Stan. How could he even think he could? He tried, sure. He got out of bed, got ready and left his cottage, and then he thought of the impending rejection, and stopped in his tracks. Kirion kept on biting his pant leg, tugging it in order to get him to move, but Kyle was just frozen in place. 

Kyle dragged a hand down his face, and sighed. A promise was a promise, and Kyle had sworn to uphold any promise he made. Wendy better be right about this, or he could ruin his best friendship with Stan.

Starting to walk into the Enchanted Forest, Kyle kept on doing the breathing exercises that his mother taught him when he was younger, trying to keep calm. When Kyle reached the tree, he seriously considered running back home and never leaving his room. Just as he started to turn around, Kirion ran ahead and jumped on Sparky, alerting Stan to his presence. 

“Kyle? Hey dude!” said Stan, as he looked at Kyle and grinned, his grin soured however, when he saw how nervous Kyle looked. “Kyle, are you ok? What’s wrong?”

“Heh, about that...” said Kyle, trailing off awkwardly. “I found out something yesterday, and I think you might want to know about it.”

Kyle sat next to Stan, leaning against the tree, steeling himself for what he was about to do. 

“Oh? Is it bad? Should I be worried?” asked Stan, very concerned.

“I mean, I personally think it’s good, but...” 

“Dude you gotta tell me, I’m on the edge of my seat. Do I have to go threaten your mother or what?” 

Kyle laughed, and shook his head. “Nah, it’s nothing about my mother, it’s about us two, and, uhhh, destiny.” 

“Destiny? What do you mean?”

“Well, my Apothecary teacher, Wendy, seems to think that we are, um, that we are, how do I say this?”

“Soulmates?”, said Stan. “Because if so, I agree with her.”

“What! You knew?! How!”

“Well, to be honest, I knew the first time I saw you, that you were my soulmate. Even before I saw your spirit companion and confirmed it.” said Stan, as he scratched the back of his neck, nervously meeting eyes with Kyle. “I’m sorry I never told you, it’s just that I needed to wait until you figured it out for yourself. I’m sorry I’m such a coward, I was just worried that I was wrong, or that you’d never figure it out.” 

“Woah, I- I can’t believe it. I, just, wow.” 

“Heh, is your mind exploded? Because mine was when I found you.” 

Kyle blushed and playfully shoved Stan, “Oh stop, you fool.” 

Stan shoved him back, “Never, you won’t ever get rid of me.”

Kyle mock sighed, “Oh, great. I’m going to be stuck with you for the rest of my life.”

“Thank the Stars for that.”

~~~

Four Years Later

Kyle leaned against the counter of their shop, waiting for Stan to arrive. Today had been a slow day for their shop, as it was in the middle of summer, and not many people were sick. 

Stan had hiked out on his daily missions by who ever had payed at first light, leaving Kyle alone in their bed. Kyle understood that with Stan’s job as a bounty hunter, he was expected to leave and go out to complete missions, but why did he have to leave for so long? They were Soulmates for the Stars’ sake! They were supposed to be inseparable, and while they practically were, it still was horrible that they had to be separated so regularly. 

At least he had Kirion for company, although he wasn’t much of a companion, he would mainly sit in his bed, waiting for Sparky to come back from his adventures with Stan. 

“Aww, you miss Sparky, don’t you?” said Kyle, petting Kirion’s fur and smiling as he began to purr. “Don’t worry, he’s gonna be back soon.” 

The faint creak of his door alerted Kyle of someone’s presence. He looked up, hoping it was Stan, but was quickly disappointed when it was only a customer. She had long brown hair, with her spirit companion, a black sheep. 

“Hello,” said Kyle, “What can I help you with?”

“Oh, well I came here for some snake scales, my husband is brewing a spell of some kind, and he doesn’t have any snake scales. Do you have any for sale?”

“Of course we do! If you know what spell he’s brewing, I can even ration out the perfect amount needed, so you don’t spend any extra money.” said Kyle, turning to his ingredient shelf and taking out a jar of snake scales. 

“Thanks, that would be great! I’m pretty sure he is brewing a teleportation spell, if that’s any help.”

“Hmm,” said Kyle, taking some scales out of the jar and putting them onto a chopping board, “Well, that would be 7 inches of scales, which would be about 22 coins, is that ok?”

“Oh that’s perfect!” 

“Great,” said Kyle, as he took out a wooden ruler and chopped off 7 inches of scales. He then put them into a small bag, accepted the coins when offered, and gave the scales to the woman. “Here you go, come again.”

“Thanks, have a good day.” said the woman, turning and leaving the shop. 

Kyle let his polite smile drop, and he sighed. Stan had been gone for too long, and he was getting worried. Stan’s mission sent him into the Dark Wood, and while it had become significantly safer since his first visit, it still wasn’t the place that anyone wanted to go into. Kyle was well aware that Stan could hold his own incredibly well, and in his training he had to wait in the Dark Wood for extended amounts of time, to practice his reflexes. It still still worried him anyway, but Kyle supposed that was natural. 

He twisted the engagement ring on his finger and smiled. They had gotten engaged last spring, when all the flowers started to bloom in the Enchanted Forest. Kyle still feels secondhand embarrassment when he remembered how much he cried, clinging to Stan and sobbing the word ‘yes’ over and over. The moment was beautiful though, and he wouldn’t change it for the world. 

The shop door opened again, and Kyle looked up to see his fiancée looking exhausted, with Sparky following along, tiredly wagging his tail. 

“Hey dude,” said Kyle, walking from behind the counter to kiss Stan. “How was the Wood?”

“Eh, it was alright, nothing I’ve haven’t seen before. How’s the shop been?” 

“It’s been slow, I’ve missed you.”

“Aww, I’m sorry dude. Y’know I’d rather spend time with you.”

Kyle laughed, “Of course I know, I said yes, didn’t I?”

“How could I forget, ‘Yes, yes, yes! A million times yes!’” said Stan, doing a horrible impression of Kyle. 

Kyle laughed again, shoving Stan’s shoulder playfully. “Oh shut up.”

Stan laughed with Kyle, wrapping his arms around Kyle’s waist and smiling. “You know I’m just kidding, that was the best reaction I could’ve asked for.”

Kyle smiled and kissed Stan again, before smelling him and wrinkling his nose in disgust.

“Eww, dude you’re all sweaty. Go have a shower.”

Stan laughed and kissed Kyle again before unwrapping himself from Kyle and heading towards the backdoor that led to their house. He then stopped in the doorway and turned to face Kyle. “Love you dude.”

Kyle smiled, “Love you too.”


End file.
